Shape of Things to Come Part 2:Times they are changing Chapter 21 Let me speak, sir, For heaven now bids me; and the words I utter Let none think flattery, for they'll find 'em truth. ..........(Henry VII Scene 5 William Shakespeare )

As the Powers that Be of Good realised the extent of the latest Evil, the new demon Briareos sat in his lair surveying his minions. His lair was still insignificant compared to the Great Throne room of the Source, and the number of his followers was small compared to those that knelt in Tempus’ Great Hall. However, the lair did have a throne-like-seat on an elevated platform, although Briareos was still not powerful enough to call it a throne and his minions crouched to keep their heads lower than his. Most of these minions were creatures totally in debt to Briareos giving the demon the satisfaction of observing their fear of him, as causing fear in underlings in his view was the hallmark of a powerful evil being.

Most of these minions were lost souls and demons vanquished to the pits by the previous source. Briareos had rescued them by convincing Tempus to grant them demonic form, though nothing like as powerful as the form Briareos himself possessed. Some of these minions were souls that had been indebted to Briareos in their mortal lives and suffered in the pits for it after their deaths. Others were creatures, condemned as Briareos had been condemned, which had imparted knowledge to him during his own long sojourn in the hideous hell of evil. Briareos held them under control by convincing them on his order Tempus would send them back to the Evil Pits. The truth was however that should they displease Tempus, the Source would simply obliterate them and take their Evil.

Surrounding Briareos on the elevated platform was a circle of sufficiently regal seats that though presently empty were sometimes occupied by his allies. In Briareos view these seats were still too high and he hated their arrangement where his allies faced him but that would change. Among the new demon’s many displeasures with his demonic resurrection, was unlike his time as Pope Innocent IX allies no longer subjugated themselves at his feet because of who he was, even before they became his sycophants.

Sitting in his lair on his throne-like seat, Briareos reflected on his recent activities and successes. Without doubt Briareos had gained considerable benefits from the demon battles at the San Francisco university and Indian one. Firstly, he was elevated in the demon hierarchy, to the disgust of those demons that spurned him. Additionally, he had acquired an impressive inheritance of grunts and other followers from his demolition of the Renove, and had accessed a considerable portion of their stored powers, courtesy of their terrified cohorts seeking to disassociate themselves from the disaster. As well, Briareos had vanquished some of those cohorts with his newly inherited fireballs, losing their powers but gaining satisfaction as he obliterated them.

Briareos had extended his chaos to the world of Good and had the satisfaction of knowing, through some highly paid sources of the Brotherhood, that Good was panicking at the possibility of open warfare with Evil which meant they would act unwisely. As he expected, his allies that remained, the Brotherhood and scribes known as Agures, were at best distrusting of him, and at worst out to destroy him but his experience as Pope meant that Briareos was well able to manipulate disillusioned allies. Briareos was already searching the underworld, seeking further alliances. Regrettably his status was not yet so high, and his resources were not so great that demon sects in favour with the Source saw any advantages in alliance. Most contemptuously stayed away from him so Briareos was still forced to seek alliances amongst those sects that were in disgrace with Tempus, convincing them that his role as the Source’s favourite new demon gave them access to something they lacked.

He needed allies whose destruction would strengthen his own power. Briareos was not yet strong enough to destroy the Brotherhood so that alliance would continue. He also discovered that the scribes of the Agures who had come to power under the old source by transposing knowledge and presenting it in such a way it could be used to add to that source’s power, were very useful locating necessary information. They were also organised so their highly valued grunts were well-protected by their close working relationships with a scribe, and he could not goad them into reckless battle that would break their masters, although when the opportunity to act without risk arose, such as had happened in India when they destroyed the remaining Renove grunts that Briareos did not control, they could act decisively. In addition to these cohorts, in the short time since the massacre in San Francisco he had found one new ally and was in the process of making another.

This ally now anointed as Briareos friend was not a demonic sect connected to knowledge or education but a group known as Amniga who hired their grunts as mercenaries. They were a very old sect that had once been the terror of Good, and their ranks included Demonatrix, Darklighters, Couriers and Shakers. However, in the last years of the old source’s reign, they had been overshadowed because Good learnt how to defeat their weapons of martial arts, shurikens and electrical discharges. Newer mercenary cults had far more lethal fighting weapons that Good still feared so Tempus simply overlooked the Amniga. Briareos, whose current grunts were mostly teachers and administrators decided that having his own army of mercenaries, even second-rate ones, added to his prestige and was therefore pleased to make the alliance. The alliance also had the advantage that the Amniga hated the Brotherhood, dating back to an old feud when the Brotherhood was still increasing its power and reneged on a contract with them. They viewed the alliance as a chance to destroy their enemy which was much the same reaction as the Brotherhood.

Briareos was also in the process of negotiating a pact with a sect called Perenimat, possessor demons that he believed would be very used to possess the souls of institutional administrators. Historically this sect was never close to the source, and Briareos was attempting to convince them he could change this. However, the negotiations were still at an impasse because his closeness to Tempus was not sufficient reward for the risk to the sect, and they were highly suspicious of his Brotherhood allies.

Despite these successes, Briareos had to bitterly acknowledge that not all had gone as he hoped. Good was certainly in a frenzy, but the mortal realm was not cringing in terror at the exposure of Magic. Tempus had the new demon known it, took some satisfaction in this failure, as the source well-knew that in the modern age where knowledge was so easily accessed many inexplicable things were simply ignored. The massacre in San Francisco had received headlines but the small number of mortal victims reported, plus the mortal authorities’ refusal, so far, to reveal the unfathomable parts of it, had soon made it ‘old’ news and the headlines and social groups had already refocused on other inexplicable headlines.

To counter this, Briareos had encouraged the confrontation at a university in India resulting in more deaths and carnage, but it simply had not caught the attention of the mortal world because no connection was made to the San Francisco ‘incident’, so the exposure of magic was limited to local interest. Regrettably, despite all his efforts, the Agures were reluctant to allow the Brotherhood to provoke them into outright conflict in their treasured Asian territories, so he had to sacrifice some of Renove inheritance grunts, for in his view, little gain. He had more success in universities in France but the lack of real mortal bodies there, limited the mortal reporting. Headlines over the last few days gave Briareos some hope of more conflict and magic chaos in Britain where he incited grunts that he had inherited from the Renove into revenge on the already established Brotherhood grunts who were highly suspicious of his efforts, correctly recognising his disposition of ex-Renove grunts as an attack on them.

In Briareos view, too, Good had not reacted with sufficient consternation. True the Elders were panicking but Brotherhood infiltrators reported that some calmer heads had prevailed amongst its minions, and despite their panic Good had not immediately rushed in open warfare, just prepared for it. Mortal law enforcements which should have had enough evidence to crucify the witches involved had still not taken any public retribution. Terrified grunts questioned about the lack of public indictment made mutterings about justice, due process, and legal procedures.

There was a level of calm and reason in the reaction of the Charmed Ones that disgusted Briareos, and he was certain that they had somehow or other influenced the minions of Good in India to also behave rationally. The Brotherhood infiltrators discovered that somehow a small number of whitelighters with a sense of concern for their charges had kept Indian witches from open warfare, incomprehensible as it was to Briareos that a grunt of the Elders would defy them. There was a level of gloating in the Brotherhood allies when they informed the new demon of these setbacks courtesy of their infiltrators and it had taken him much of his self-control to nod wisely and benignly.

To his great annoyance the spell used by the Renoves, who he now believed were unworthy allies, to strip Power of Three from the Charmed witches failed. The demon world had observed no shaking in the aura of Good, and Brotherhood infiltrators saw no evidence of Good in distress as one of their most powerful resources showed signs of fracturing. His careful plans of breaking Good by destroying the power of the witches appeared to be in tatters and Briareos angrily ordered his cohorts to discover why the spell did not work.

Tempus had also aggravated Briareos because the new demon had not received his due reward when the Sensing and Summoning powers of Renove that he craved, were withheld. True, now he had Lightning power, Fireballs and Shimmering, but the ones withheld were now his obsession, he believed them to be his right. Briareos already knew there would be retribution for Tempus’ slight. He discovered a measure of satisfaction by planning in great detail how Tempus would suffer the agonies of the pit.

Sitting on his throne-like seat contemplating the growth of his evil, Briareos was far from satisfied or sated. After the first exhilaration of reducing Good to despondency, Briareos was experiencing the nauseating fear experienced by all demons when they discovered their gains did not ease the cravings agonizingly gnawing at their spirits. He had yet to realise these cravings were the constant companions of demons because they could never be completely satisfied, and a partially satisfied demon was an unsated demon.

Like demons before him, Briareos determined he would find a way to satisfy his agonised spirit. He summoned his orderlies and with an effort to keep the benign expression on the face of his mortal form that cost him dear he commenced plans for more chaos and exposure of magic. Next time Briareos was determined that the minions of Good would know his anger and his ability to inflict pain and torture.

Sometime later, Briareos once again sat in his lair, but the only minions present were those that he needed to do his bidding and the seats around him were occupied by the leaders of his allies, the Agures and the Amniga sects so out of favour with Tempus and some Brotherhood representatives including a couple of demons who the Brotherhood blamed for their recent losses and the demon Elisheeva. However, as the nominal victors of the battles with the Renove, the highest-ranking Brotherhood leaders had distanced themselves from immediate interaction with their ally.

Elisheeva had introduced herself to Briareos when, just before he dismissed his minions she materialised in front of him in a mass of shimmering light, which lit up the dark lair showing a very beautiful and very attractive demon who smiled at him through her peek-a-boo honey blond hair. “I am the demon Elisheeva” she announced.

Briareos’ minions witnessed the power of the demon Elisheeva as she brought the new demon under her control. They watched her lean forward, one beautiful breast not quite falling from her very lowcut robe. Then as she preened and teased, Elisheeva took the opportunity to ensure Briareos experienced every pang of the frustration at the parts of his plan that had not totally succeeded. In her soft whispery voice that made very minion determined to climb the demon ranks to be her equal, Elisheeva revealed that she could ensure the new demon’s plans succeeded. Then she shimmered leaving an aroused but still suspicious demon Briareos to contemplate, as many had done before him, on the power of her beautiful evil.

The one-time pope wasted no time discovering that Elisheeva, sometimes known as Elizabeth Turner, like the Brotherhood had fallen from favour, although unlike her Brotherhood brethren she was reported to have found some notice in Tempus’ court of late which was accredited to her being a very beautiful and attractive demon. Briareos learned her fall from grace was connected to the now legendary and generally perceived to be mythical demon, the Great Betrayer Belthezor, connections she now dismissed as inconceivable. He also discovered she was reputed to have some vague connections to the Charmed witches, so Briareos recognised some advantages to encouraging Elisheeva and exploiting her through the Brotherhood alliance.

His allies seated around him, listened as Briareos defended his use of education to manipulate and control mortals and their institutions. He described how the very nature of education with its factions and absolute beliefs made it vulnerable to the same use of heresy that worked in the late medieval period. He explained to his allies how his cleverness would lead to great status and power. Briareos never mentioned from whom he would take this power, but his allies already knew the answer. From Tempus if he could, from them if they were not careful.

Elisheeva in her breathy voice totally approved this action, but she also made it clear that it was only through the knowledge and resources of Briareos allies, he could make it happen. With a wave of her hand, and a smirk at Briareos, she used her sensing power to locate a grunt of Good that was discontent with its lot, a recorder underling of the Elders, summoned it and easily tortured it into describing Good’s plans, then obliterated it. For some seconds, Briareos benign expression was replaced by jealousy and envy as she so casually used the powers he craved. By the smile around Elisheeva’s beautiful mouth, it was clear she recognised his pain.

As she told Briareos and his allies, Elisheeva had no doubts that the failure, and she emphasised the word, of Briareos minions to totally tempt Good’s minions into rashness was due to the concern that whitelighters had for their charges. This gave their charges strength to defy the Elders, a weakness of Good that Evil could exploit, she explained. She wholeheartedly approved the new demon’s alliance with a mercenary sect that numbered Darklighters and Shakers and strongly advised Briareos to use them to destroy as many whitelighters as possible. As she spoke her voice became more breathy, and her attitude more disdainful as every demon present preened at the possibility of her attention, Briareos included.

All the allied leaders stirred at her breathy laugh as Elisheeva maliciously explained, that the spell of the Renove had failed to affect Power of Three because it was not the Charmed Ones in the battle of HR. The bitch Piper had been absent, instead using her vicious sarcasm and pleasure in exploding demons to intimidate mere mortals, the demon Elisheeva understood. She enjoyed watching Briareos gnash his teeth as he was confronted by his ignorance.

Elisheeva had some more bad news for Briareos. She regretfully told him that it was useless to try and stop the Charmed Ones, and many other witches by damning them through legal nonsense. She hinted very strongly that a great power protected witches left to the mercy of the mortal justice system. Despite Briareos objections, she was adamant that that the most effective means of damning witches was to destroy their whitelighters and those watching saw Briareos petulantly back away from her. Elisheeva retrieved her position however by offering a plan that did not include legally subjugating witches but provoking their masters by a more aggressive exposure of magic and insisted that Brotherhood infiltrators in the mortal legal system could effectively do this.

Briareos’ allies fell into some angry discussion at the failure of Tempus to control the Charmed Ones and finally broke up. All of them leaving so that Briareos could reconsider his plans. After giving Briareos time to contemplate her advice, the demon Elisheeva returned to his lair sometime later, sure that rather than being grateful for her advice, he would be fixating on his failures. To her great pleasure she was correct. Briareos had decided as other demons before him, that his woes all centred around the Charmed Ones and that they had to be destroyed.

She found him occupied in those plans, surrounded by some of his closest minions and a few Brotherhood allies, meshing plots that they were convinced would get rid of the Charmed Ones, now Briareos had the Source’s tacit permission to go after them. Elisheeva greeted Briareos with her best throatiest laugh, lent forward in such a way as to tease him with a quick view of her beautiful breasts, then tossed her peek-a-boo hairstyle from her eyes. Some of the other demons crowded close to her and Briareos angrily brushed them aside.

“Your plans won’t work” Elisheeva told him. With a throaty chuckle she added deliberately “Better demons than you have tried and better demons than you have been vanquished and obliterated.”

As she expected, Briareos benign façade fell away at the insult in front of his minions. “I know the Charmed Ones” she told the demons “And I can defeat them.”

“Why haven’t you?” Briareos demanded bitterly.

“Because the noble Source has not wanted it up until now,” she replied with a sneer for her contempt for Tempus. She did not tell him she left the Charmed Ones alone because she had an idiot son who was so besotted with one of them, he would tear the realm apart to get any demon that hurt his beloved. By encouraging the new demon to destroy the Charmed Ones, she ensured her idiot son slaughtered Briareos, she took the new demon’s power and gained to access her grandchildren.

“And how do you get the accursed witches?” snarled Briareos forgetting to be benign in the face of Elisheeva’s breathtaking beauty and snide authority.

Elisheeva smiled knowingly “You don’t GET them. You have a spell to break the power and you need them caught in chaos three times for it to work. As I understand it” she smiled knowingly as Briareos began to bluster about how she knew this plan. “You go after those they love, or those they call innocents. Those cursed charmed witches cannot resist rushing to protect the weak, the reckless, the foolish…the idiots and when the idiots create chaos you catch the Charmed Ones in it.”

“How do you know that?” demanded Briareos.

“I have my ways” smirked Elisheeva knowingly. She bent forward again and heard him catch his breath at what he saw, then she slowly picked up the long list of Briareos resources, the infiltrators, the demons, and their victims that he had inherited from the Renoves. “Ahhh” she breathed putting a long elegant finger against one of the names. “Get rid of that and the accursed witches and minions of Good, those close to the Charmed Ones will act rashly. Just make sure they know it was demons who destroyed a good soul for spite. They will act in anger and haste and the Charmed Ones will come to their rescue. They always do. Make sure it is done with approval of Elders and under supervision of whitelighters and eliminate some of those cursed creatures too. That is why you have Darklighters is it not? I know the Charmed Ones relationship with the Powers of Good is fractured. Let the leaders of Good blame them for the loss of a minion and it will break.”

“That could take care of the Charmed Ones” Briareos conceded “And how do you suggest we…put the fear of Evil into the realms of Good and mortals.”

Elisheeva shrugged “As you always did” she told the new demon. “Burn a few heretics in public executions.” Then she smiled seductively as Briareos preened. “And to make sure attacks go as planned, I will tell you something about demons. They lack …courage, fortitude. They run except when they are more frightened of leaders than fighting. Be there, make them fear not to fight.” And then she laughed her throaty laugh.

……………………………………

A few days later, Fern came home early. She parked her old and not entirely reliable car in front of ‘next door,’ paying little attention to how close it was to the curb. She went into the living room, threw her bag down very hard and then sat for some time in the only really comfortable chair, staring at the wall that Leo was going to paint soon, only not really seeing the wall or the room. She wanted to cry but she had no tears left, her eyes were red-rimmed, her nose was red, and she could not stop shaking.

Yet Fern did not understand why she was so shocked. She was a witch, she had seen death, she had known death, but she was still totally unprepared for this. Death by magic made to look like mortal death, she was sure. And if she was correct that magic was responsible, she was the only magic connection, so she was responsible. As she silently sat by herself, the pain of loss became too much and ever so slowly a burning anger replaced the numbness in her body and slowly consumed her.

After some time of just staring at the wall, Fern stood up, the numbness of her body completely replaced by a soul-deep burning pain. She walked out into the yard noticing the gate to the Manor was open and two of the dogs rushed through to greet her. She knelt down, caught them in a big hug and then followed them into the manor’s kitchen where the family stored ‘good stuff’ in a wine cabinet that Leo had installed because so much of the wine the family received as gifts from P3 contacts needed proper care. The cost of the cabinet had made the family conclude that gifts were never free.

Fern helped herself to a bottle of nearly ‘good stuff’ red, then went into the manor living room where she sat on the sofa and poured herself a large glass. She had half finished her second glass when Leo found her sitting staring into space, grim faced, and dry eyed.

Leo, angel guide that he was, recognised the signs of a very distraught witch. He greeted Fern quietly, and she just gazed at him, her red-rimmed eyes a little manic. Leo taking in her tortured face had a quick vision of the past when he had unsuccessfully tried to help Pru Halliwell, as she worked herself into an almighty state of outrage, before rashly plunging into magic battles.

Very casually, Leo sat on the chair opposite Fern, giving her space, noting her short dark hair ruffled as if she had run her hands roughly through it. Fern spent several minutes breathing heavily and ignoring Leo, then she drained her wine in a gulp.

“I hate evil” she spat out angrily. “And I hate magic, and I hate Elders because they let evil just get away with it. This bloody battle. It’s the innocents who get killed and all Elders ever say is be careful, don’t attack without just cause, make sure it’s not revenge. All that garbage” she yelled “They need to be wiped out, they need to be destroyed, obliterated, smitten from the realm. All we do is concede, and all they do is…kill innocent people.”

“What happened?” Leo asked carefully. “Who is they?”

Fern met his eyes then turned away, her face becoming even darker with anger. “Mary is dead Leo… my supervisor Leo” she told him her voice brittle with anger. “They is demons and Elders and all that trash.”

“I see” Leo murmured quietly. “I’m sorry.”

Leo did see. For weeks now all Fern had talked about was how the Powers-that-Be of the university targeted her much revered supervisor Mary with accusations of sexism and racism, because much of her work dealt with tribal structures and artefacts. Fern had talked non-stop about Mary’s work being dismissed and the validity of it disputed, even though Fern claimed it was on the cutting edge of new understanding. Phoebe had been very sympathetic but Phoebe, in Leo’s view, had not really helped Fern because Phoebe considered the attacks on Mary evidence that Evil was infiltrating learning institutions, but could offered little support for Mary’s particular problems.

“How?” Leo asked Fern carefully.

“They booted her from the university this morning. Some of us went to her place and checked on her and she was dead.” Fern told him her voice agonised.

“How?” Leo asked just as carefully.

“Probable suicide, they’re saying” Fern whispered. Leo moved as if to say something but Fern cut him short. “I don’t think it was Leo” Fern told him. “I … her apartment was a mess, and the cop thought it was…she got angry… threw things around, then took something because she had… spewed up blood.” Fern glared at Leo bitterness overwhelming her. “Only not that long before my mom died, she went over to see one of my witch cousins who had been…you know hunting lower-level demons and mom found her just like that. You know” she demanded.

“I know” he replied softly.

“I heard her tell the coven… describe what she had seen. They…and Caleb thought it was a shaker demon that killed my cousin even though the police said suicide. I think Mary was killed by a shaker demon Leo” Fern whispered. “It’s such a bloody, horrible way to die.” She yelled very loudly. “The university colleague who went with me to her place, said Mary had complained a couple of days ago about a weird presence in her house, Mary laughed about her over-active imagination. Then she was booted from the university and now she’s dead.”

Fern started to breath in great painful gasps and Leo went to her. “It’s my fault Leo. I’m the only magic connection she has…had.”

She allowed him to pull her to her feet and even though there were no tears, she put her head against his shoulder until the breathing eased.

Fern finally leant back so she could see his face. “Don’t you dare tell me I’m imagining that evil targeted Mary” she ordered Leo.

“I would never tell you to deny what you know to be true.” Leo told her softly.

“Are you going to tell me, evil targeting Mary was nothing to do with me” Fern demanded her voice manic.

“I would never tell you to deny what you know to be true.” Leo told her again. “But that doesn’t make you responsible.”

“I feel I am” Fern hissed.

“I know” Leo nodded.

Both Charlie and Phoebe returned home a little later and Leo went into the kitchen to make tea as Charlie sat on the sofa beside Fern, her arms around her big sister.

Phoebe started to say something about evil at universities but stopped as Leo gave her a deadly glare and so she followed him into the kitchen.

“You know what it is” Phoebe told Leo. “She’s right about the shaker demons. Going after innocents, the bastards. And you can just bet its everything to do with Evil infiltrating universities.”

“Probably” Leo agreed.

“What do you think it is?” Phoebe asked him insistently.

“What I think” Leo answered very slowly “and don’t you dare tell Piper this” he ordered wryly as Phoebe nodded. “I think the answer is in history. I think that some clever demon is using the same heretical fallacies that created the fear of god in medieval times and caused public burnings and hangings. Only this time it is university administrators fear of the Internet, causing public humiliation and sackings, with much the same effect.”

Phoebe nodded “I won’t tell Piper,” she agreed. “But I think you’re right. Was Mary targeted because she was close to Fern do you think?”

Leo shrugged “A little bit. Maybe.”

When Fern calmed down enough to speak reasonably, Charlie called for Caleb and after two calls the whitelighter appeared, his expression stern and his jaw set harshly when he saw Leo was present.

Distracting Caleb’s attention from Leo, Fern angrily and bitterly told the whitelighter what happened to Mary and that she thought it was the shaker demons and he rather pompously said he would check what happened.

“Then do it” snapped Fern, and the sternness in Caleb’s face became very severe.

“Please” Charlie added before he could comment.

Caleb, with a certain distain on his face, orbed away He came back later that night his expression was passive, but his body was tense with excitement. He appeared in the living room of ‘next door’ clearly annoyed to see Paige, along with Charlie and Leslie, sitting clutching cups of tea and listening to Fern, dry-eyed but shaking as she poured her heart out.

All four witches looked up as Caleb materialised in a cloud of orbs. Speaking slowly, which indicated the level of his excitement, and pointedly ignoring Paige, Caleb told Charlie, Leslie, and Fern that the Elders strongly agreed about the shaker demons because there were reports of two British professors, one famous for outspoken views on genetic engineering, the other a renowned but controversial authority on violence in the media, dying in a similar manner. Both these men had been dismissed from their jobs due to their outspoken beliefs, dying after what the whitelighter called a contretemps at a university. Their deaths had been recorded as suicide.

“So evil is targeting mortals?” Charlie asked softly.

Caleb agreed, his severe expression indicating his disapproval.

“Then Evil needs to be stopped” Fern hissed her voice bitter and hard.

“I can inform you that the Elders have concluded actively confronting these creatures, and anything controlling them is completely justified” Caleb announced to the witches. “Shakers are an old sect and there is sufficient magic to vanquish them. I will consult the elders and inform you of a plan of action” he told them.

“Then do it” ordered Fern. “I want to get them. I want to get the demons who did it. I want to get the bastards that ordered it.”

“Fern, you don’t have that sort of power” Paige told her carefully.

“Then I’ll find it” Fern shrieked whilst Charlie patted her sister’s hand to calm her down.

“It is the opinion of the Elders that if you listen to the correct advice, follow the correct response, you and your sisters do have that power” Caleb said deliberately while a very worried Leslie met Paige’s eyes and bit her lip.

Caleb nodded and orbed noting with a small amount of superiority, Paige’s concerned and worried expression he orbed off to consult the Elders.